PSYCH 435
Abnormal Psychology
Course Syllabus
Fall, 2007
Instructor: Ryan C. Martin, Ph.D.
Office: MAC C318
Office Hours:
Monday: 9:00 – 11:00
Tuesday: 9:00 – 11:00
Wednesday: 1:30 – 3:30
*I will be happy to schedule time to meet with students if the above times don’t work.
Phone: 465-2322
E-mail:
Website: www.uwgb.edu/martinr/index.htm
Description of the Course:
This is an advanced undergraduate psychology course designed to expose students to the primary models for defining and evaluating normal and abnormal human behavior in American society. Students will be acquainted with the many ways in which biological, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive factors can contribute to distress or impairment, both to the individual and the people around him or her. Students will be exposed to models of how abnormal behavior can be defined, how it can be understood, and in a general sense, how it is usually treated.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
(1) Define abnormal behavior and explain the rationale behind various definitions.
(2) Discuss procedures used to evaluate and diagnosed abnormal behavior.
(3) Compare and contrast various theoretical models of abnormal behavior.
(4) Describe the primary symptoms of many mental disorders.
(5) Identify treatments for mental disorders consistent with the various theoretical models.
(6) Discuss how culture and history shape definitions of abnormal behavior.
Required Readings:
Barlow, D. H., & Durand, V. M. (2005). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach (4th ed). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.
*Consult the reading guide for specific sections to be read.
**Some additional readings will be assigned throughout the semester.
Course Requirements:
In-class Assignments: Although I do not keep attendance records, it is in your best interest to come to all classes. You will be required to know all the material presented in class, including class lectures, guest lectures, and movies. Additionally, there will be several assignments (50 points total) completed in class. Although they are not listed on the tentative schedule, I’ll let you know when they are going to occur. These assignments will be small group activities and students who are not present will only be able to make them up if their absence is excused. To earn an excused absence, you must let me know you will not be there before the class begins. If something happens on your way to class that prevents you from getting there (car trouble, flat tire, etc.), I expect you to call me as soon as possible. Make up assignments will be a take home version of the same assignment that was done in class.
In-class Exams: There will be three in-class exams (50 points each). They will not be specifically cumulative, though you will need to understand certain early terms to understand the latter material. Please note that each exam will contain information from lectures that cannot be found in the text and material from the text that is not covered in class. Make-up exams will be administered only under the most extraordinary circumstances. Barring a natural disaster or death in the family, the only excuse that I will accept for missing an exam is a written physician’s note. Make-up exams must be taken within one week of the missed exam and missed exams without a valid excuse will receive a zero.
Take-home Final Exams: There will be a take-home final exams (50 points). This exam will be cumulative and you will have two weeks to work on it. Take-home exams turned in late without my approval in advance will lose 5 points per day. Extra time will only be granted in extraordinary circumstances.
Class Expectations: My goal is to create a comfortable learning atmosphere for all students. Thus, you are expected to be polite, attentive, and not be a distraction to the instructor or any other students. This includes visiting with other students, reading, sleeping, etc. You are also asked to please turn off cell phones and pagers during this class. Additionally, I ask you to note the following class expectations.
· All assignments or take-home exams are due at the time of class on the day they are due and will be considered late if turned in after this.
· I will not accept any assignment or take-home exam that is E-mailed to me for any reason. If you cannot make it to class on the day something is due, you should either turn it in ahead of time, have someone else bring it to class, or make sure your absence from class the day it is due is excused so you can turn it in at the next class without a penalty.
· Please take care in putting together your assignments and take-home exams. They should be typed, stapled, printed in black ink, and printed on a printer that isn’t running out of ink.
Grading:
Assignment / Due Date / Total Points / Grading ScaleIn-class Exam 1 / 10/9/07 / 50 / A 92%-100%
In-class Exam 2 / 11/8/07 / 50 / AB 88%-92%
In-class Exam 3 / 12/18/07 / 50 / B 82%-88%
Take-home Final / 12/18/07 / 50 / BC 78%-82%
In-Class Assignments / -- / 50 / C 70%-78%
Extra Credit / -- / -- / D 60%-70%
Total / 250 / F less than 60%
Tentative Semester Schedule
Date
/Topic
/Chapter
Week 1
9/4/079/6/07 / Introduction to Abnormal Psychology
Diagnosis and Assessment / Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Week 2
9/11/079/13/07 / Diagnosis and Assessment (continued)
Week 3
9/18/079/20/07 / Anxiety Disorders / Chapter 5
Week 4
9/25/079/27/07 / Anxiety Disorders (continued)
Week 5
10/2/0710/4/07 / Mood Disorders / Chapter 7
Week 6
10/9/07 (Exam 1)10/11/07 / Mood Disorders (continued)
Week 7
10/16/0710/18/07 / Personality Disorders / Chapter 12
Week 8
10/23/0710/25/07 / Psychotic Disorders / Chapter 13
Week 9
10/30/0711/1/07 /
Psychotic Disorders (continued)
Week 10
11/6/0711/8/07 (Exam 2) /
Substance Related Disorders
/ Chapter 11Week 11
11/13/0711/15/07 /
Eating Disorders
/ Chapter 8Week 12
11/20/0711/22/07 (no class) / Disorders of Childhood / Chapter 14
Week 13
11/27/0711/29/07 / Disorders of Childhood (continued)
To Be Announced
Week 14
12/4/07 (Take-home distributed)12/6/07 /
To Be Announced
Week 15
12/11/0712/13/07 / To Be Announced
Final Exam
/ Take-home exam will be due at the time of the final.Section 1
Section 2 / Tuesday, December 18: 10:30-12:30
Tuesday, December 18: 1:00-3:00
Final Notes:
· Consistent with the federal law and the policies of the University of Wisconsin, it is the policy of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to provide appropriate and necessary accommodations to students with documented physical and learning disabilities. If you anticipate requiring any auxiliary aids or services, you should contact me or the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities at 465-2849 as soon as possible to discuss your needs and arrange for the provision of services.
· Using someone else’s ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. “Ideas of phrasing” includes written or spoken material, of course – from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases – but it also includes statistics, lab results, art work, etc. “Someone else” can mean a professional source, such as a published writer or critic in a book, magazine, encyclopedia, or journal: an electronic resource such as material we discover on the World Wide Web; another student at our school or anywhere else; a paper-writing “service” (online or otherwise) which offers to sell written papers for a fee.